The Race is On:Coca-Cola Challenges Global Shapers to ‘Shape a Better Future’

Global Shapers from 300 cities around the world are driving positive change in their communities.

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In Burundi, a team of Millennial entrepreneurs is working to get kids off the streets and into the classroom. More than 2,000 miles away, in Ghana, a creative upcycling initiative aims to turn plastic waste into desirable goods.

Meanwhile, a group of young adults in Spain is encouraging peers to pursue careers that align with their passions. And in Puerto Rico, an ecological sanitation initiative is simultaneously addressing local farmers’ needs and providing solutions to global environmental and public health concerns.

These projects are among 12 semifinalists in the 2014 Coca-Cola Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge. Now in its second year, the challenge is open exclusively to World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Shapers – a growing community of 4,000 plus young leaders between the ages of 20 and 30 organized in more than 350 city-based hubs. The program empowers these leaders to turn innovative ideas into actionable solutions to society’s most pressing challenges – from food security to youth unemployment – with the opportunity to win seed money to sustain and expand their work. Learn more about the semifinalists.

'What Do You Want to Do With Your Life?' is one of 12 semifinalist projects in the 2014 Coca-Cola Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge. The Madrid-based initiative encourages young adults to pursue careers that coincide with their passions and interests.

“The systemic challenges these Shapers are tackling are not for the faint of heart,” said Elaine Bowers Coventry, program sponsor and leader of Coca-Cola’s partnership with the Global Shapers. “They require creativity and ingenuity to drive social change at the local and global level.”

Projects will be scored based on the issue addressed, number of lives positively impacted, efficiency, and scalability.

One project will receive $50,000 in seed money, and five runners-up will be granted $10,000. Winners will be announced in early December and profiled at the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, offering over 500 brands to people in more than 200 countries. Of our 21 billion-dollar brands, 19 are available in lower- or no-sugar options to help people moderate their consumption of added sugar. In addition to our namesake Coca-Cola drinks, some of our leading brands around the world include: AdeS soy-based beverages, Ayataka green tea, Dasani waters, Del Valle juices and nectars, Fanta, Georgia coffee, Gold Peak teas and coffees, Honest Tea, Minute Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks, Simply juices, smartwater, Sprite, vitaminwater, and Zico coconut water. At Coca-Cola, we’re serious about making positive contributions to the world. That starts with reducing sugar in our drinks and continuing to introduce new ones with added benefits. It also means continuously working to reduce our environmental impact, creating rewarding careers for our associates and bringing economic opportunity wherever we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people around the world.

The fairlife® brand is owned by fairlife, LLC, our joint venture with Select Milk Producers, Inc., and fairlife’s products are distributed by our Company and certain of our bottling partners.